A Tarkwa Circuit Court has sentenced a 25- year-old unemployed, Adjei Sowah, to five years imprisonment in hard labour for stealing electrical cables worth GH₵10,600.

Sowah denied causing unlawful damage, unlawful entry and stealing but at the end of the trial he was found guilty of the offence.

Police Chief Inspector Joseph Lartey, who led the prosecution, told the court presided over by Mrs Hathia Ama Manu that the complainant Justice Asare, is a farmer and a resident of Wassa Bompieso in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality.

Sowah resides in the same neighborhood as the complainant who owns a five-bedroom uncompleted apartment in the area.

Chief Inspector Lartey said the fixtures and the electrical wiring of Adjei’s building have been done, but yet to connect to the grid.

On November 28, 2023, at about 1730 hours, Sowah went into Asare’s building and removed all the copper cables used in wiring the building.

According to the prosecution, the convict was arrested by a witness who saw him coming from Asare’s building with the cables packed in a sack, so the witness reported the theft to the complainant on phone and he rushed to the site to access the situation.

Chief Inspector Lartey said after Sowah had removed the cables, he cut them into pieces rendering them unusable for the same purpose again.

Sowah was later handed over to the Police with the cables, where Adjei lodged a formal complaint against him and during interrogation, Sowah admitted the offence and led the police to the scene, and demonstrated how he committed the crime.